Burnley College launch Walk in Their Shoes campaign

Up to 50 pairs of shoes - symbolising some of the learners at the university centre based at Burnley College’s town centre campus - will be located in venues throughout the area.

The stories of five learners who have retrained, upskilled or changed direction, are being showcased.

The launch will include artwork at ‘the kiosk’ in the centre of Charter Walk, Burnley, with QR codes to scan to find out more and see which courses will enable students to achieve their dreams.

Single parent Mary Harron, from Nelson, is one of the learners fronting the campaign – inspiring people to take the next step towards doing something different.

Mary (40) was frustrated after missing out on promotions and pay rises at work and decided life was too short to stay in a job where she felt she wasn’t valued. She took the decision to go back to study.

She said: “I had time to think about what I really wanted to do. I was fed up of being overlooked for promotion so I decided to get the qualifications I needed to get a better job.”

Specialist student finance advisors supported Mary and she was able to get a bursary in her first year and, as the course is devised with families in mind, it was flexible enough to allow her to work part-time while studying.

Nina Parkin, Dean of Burnley College University Courses, said: “When considering degree-level study, the first step can be the hardest.”